FEATURES

Pete's Festival of Speed 2018

It was a Saturday morning in a village near Idukki where nothing much happens, even on a Monday – a place where the adrenaline dies the minute the state transport bus passes through.

So, when 360 cylinders and a combined horsepower of approximately 19,000 descended upon Kulamavu, it was like Independence Day – I’m talking about the movie. That little village in Kerala didn’t know what hit it.

Pixels and OnePluses began flashing overtime as Instagram’s Kerala server faced overload and the multitudes lined the edge of that snaking road leading from Kulamavu to Kochi.

Pete’s Festival of Speed was in motion and the drive down this fantastic road was the start of it. About 35 supercars – Lambos, Porsches, AMGs, Ms, RSes and R8s – had driven up to the resort the night before for this early morning run.

Now, I’m sure you have a couple of questions, so please allow me to answer them for you. The first one I’m sure is, “Who is Pete?” and the second one being, “What is this Festival of Speed?”

For those who’ve been living under a diesel Celerio, the Pete in ‘Pete’s’ stands for Peter Chacko and his merry bunch of performance junkies. Peter has made a name boosting Octavias to 507hp and supercharging R8s and Gallardos to the moon, among many other things; he is also known to be an extremely nice guy.

As for the Festival of Speed – it is an event that is organised by Pete’s and is in its fourth year.

It used to be called “Pete’s Super Sunday”, up until last year but that name doesn’t qualify anymore. From being a Sunday drive for supercars through Kochi’s streets, the event is now even more energised. It even includes an invite-only dinner with tables laid out within the supercar display area. You eat under the hungry gaze of a Huracan, with the background score provided by a violinist and her band.

The run was to the Cochin International Airport’s Convention Center where about 24,000 petrolheads (women and children included) gathered to see supercar and superbike royalty, in the flesh.

For those not present, there were (in my hazy high-octane dazed head) many Lamborghinis, a bunch of Porsches, three Ms, at least five AMGs, many R8s and too many others to count. Stepping outside the main hall, you would have seen 114 superbikes lined up, a whole bunch of tuned cars and a lot of Millteks and Akrapovics screaming their heads off. Walk a little further, and wait for the afternoon, to see the first round of the MRF Mogrip Supercross Championship 2018 and a round of autocross; all of this topped-off by a supercar-superbike run on public roads, later.